When the Past Comes Back to Haunt You-The Future Can't Be Far Behind
by janesbiotch
Summary: Ashlyn Mayer was murdered. She is a friend of Jane's family and it will do whatever he can to find out who did this horrible crime. He is determined to track down the killer despite his health which has been compromised from Belladonna usage. This simple case will open up doors that should remain shut, and Lisbon will have to keep him anchored as the walls come tumbling down.
1. Chapter 1

Van Pelt was going to talk to him. Some people might think she was just putting off a hard task, but she knew she was looking for the perfect time to do it. The thing with Jane was you had to pick your battles, and this was a battle she had let simmer for far too long, now others were starting to pick up on it. That's when it became a bad thing - when others started to see it. She thought Patrick Jane was a great consultant and even thought of him as one of her best friends. She just hoped he knew and understood. Yeah, today was the day she would talk to him. Grace knew the signs. He was always somewhere else... in a world of his own making even in a room full of people. But he was losing focus, he came to work more disheveled than ever. Truth be told, she couldn't imagine how a man in his situation got up every day and didn't put a bullet in his head. He didn't though, he came and he played games with them, he solved cases when no one else had a clue, he was fantastic at what he did. That was why she loved him, and she knew that someone had to help him. Someone had to help him before he died like her sister. She couldn't take another loss like that it would destroy her simply because she knew and this time she could do something.

Rigsby knew. He knew, and he almost had it narrowed down to Jane's poison of choice. He knew Jane was an alcoholic although he hid it well. But Rigsby knew an alcoholic when he saw one and Jane had a very real drinking problem. Although most people would laugh it off if he ever said so, because it wasn't your typical problem, he didn't have a drink in the morning to help him get to work, and more drinks at lunch. He knew Jane rarely dropped in to a bar on his way home. And, he didn't think Jane staggered through his door at night and had more to put him to sleep. No that wasn't his problem, he was a binge drinker, he would get totally shit-faced drunk to the point where he passed out and would stay that way for a week or ten days. But there was more now. Jane was becoming worse and it showed way more than his drinking ever did. A part of Wayne knew the answer but he didn't want to think Jane would go there. Belladonna. It was no secret Jane had accidentally ingested some at a crime scene recently and then was on a trip like no other for the rest of the day. Stealing an ambulance and talking to gnomes. Wayne had learned all about the risks from working narcotics. Jane made a mistake in the beginning, but then that mistake had turned into a good friend. Honestly, he's my best friend, but he's a walking time bomb and I'm going to have to pick up the pieces when it explodes. I'd pick up pieces but I'd rather see him quit all this. Not just because we work together but because he is my friend. I take care of my own.

"We're up." Teresa Lisbon announced walking into the bullpen with her cup of morning coffee.

"Jane's not here yet." Van Pelt explained.

"I texted him the address, he said he was close and he'd meet us there." She said exiting the bullpen, knowing they would follow.

Patrick Jane sat outside the address Lisbon had texted him, way too scared to get out of the car. He couldn't stop his hands from shaking and every time he looked at his face in mirror, all he saw were the eyes of a crazed man staring back. He needed to get it together fast. Jane knew this house, it was a small house, right up the street from the larger house where he once lived with his family. Even worse than the proximity to his family's home, he knew this house. He knew it well and so he was afraid of what awaited him behind those doors.

Teresa and her team entered the house from the back entrance. She had called Jane once more and he told her he would be along shortly. She couldn't help but notice how the house had more expensive things inside than what she was expecting. The family obviously came from money, and their home while furnished with the best was also very warm and inviting. It just screamed come in, sit down and stay awhile. Well, that was until you saw the body of a young girl lying in the middle of the floor.

Ashlyn Mayer was about sixteen years of age. It looked as if she must have surprised him as she came from the shower because she was still wearing a towel. He had stabbed her in the lower abdomen. Lisbon looked around to see if anything was stolen, the tv was obviously gone and there was a place in the corner where a computer probably had sat. She took out her phone again to text, Jane still hadn't gotten there and she needed him for this.

As Patrick entered the house through the front entrance he tried to think of the last time he had come here. It had to be Ash's eighth birthday He had told himself the whole day he wasn't going to go, the invite had been a surprise, he didn't think anyone knew he had come back from his "vacation" but the Mayers knew. He knew it was probably because of one of Angie's friends or, god forbid, his mother but the Mayers had invited him just the same. He came and even did a couple of magic tricks for all the kids. But, as he looked into the crowd there was always one face he kept looking for, a face he knew would never be there but he just couldn't stop himself from hoping. After the party and dropping off the gift, he told Ash's mother to never invite him again. He still sent a check every year but he hadn't seen the little girl since. And now, now he stood over her body, and it broke his heart.

"Thank goodness I thought I was going to have to send out a search party for you. Are you alright?" Lisbon asked.

"Just fine." Jane answered, as he bent down to get a closer look.

He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but he didn't know if that was because of the drugs making his mind a little foggy, or if he honestly couldn't put together any clues. He was having a hard time because every time he looked at the carpet, he remembered sitting on the very same carpet many Saturday nights playing with the children. The weave of the carpet was exactly the same... the colors of the carpet were the same... the pattern was the same... he seemed now to be literally drowning in this carpet.

Teresa was on her way to talk to a Billie Anderson, who was Ashlyn's best friend and who had discovered the body, when the mantle caught her attention. There were pictures of the little girl as she grew up, she was quite pretty as a young girl. In all the pics when she was really young, a small brunette stood beside her, but later the brunette became blonde. There was something familiar about her face and then when she got to the fifth picture her heart stopped. It was Angela Jane with Charlotte on her lap and, oh my god, he knew them and had no business at all being here.

"Jane!" she shouted catching not just Jane's attention but also the attention of everyone else in the room.

"We need to excuse ourselves from this case right now, you are on their mantle in freaking family photos!" she exclaimed.

"That's why I have to work this Lisbon. I can't believe Ash is gone. I have to find out who did this for Mark and Chelsea, where are they anyway?"

"No one knows, we're trying to track them down. Apparently she's home alone a lot. She always had a friend with her though so she wasn't entirely alone."

"Fantastic parenting right there. Two girls home alone to get butchered while mom and dad are away at the spa."

"Jane you can't say things like that!"

"I can when I know it's true. Where's the friend? I wanna talk to her!"

"She's pretty shaken up, Van Pelt took her out back so she could gather her bearings after finding the body. Be nice, we have no proof she did this so show a little compassion."

"That girl in there was Charlotte's best friend. If this girl did it, I'll know the moment I lay my eyes on her."

"Well how about you look from here." Lisbon asked as she gestured toward a window.

Patrick Jane looked out the window and his whole world started spinning. Right before him was a short blonde with wavy curly hair. It was like he was back in his trip, she even had on the purple plaid shirt and jean shorts like in his Belladonna induced hallucination. She was real though because Lisbon had pointed right at her. Had he lost it? All of a sudden the room started to spin, the carpet became a spinning vortex of color and pattern, it drew him in and he was truly drowning. He lost consciousness before he hit the floor - hard.


	2. Let Me Help You

Chapter 2: Let Me Help You

_He was in a park, but he couldn't recall how he got there. When he looked to his left he saw Angela. She was sitting under their favorite tree putting out food on a checkerboard blanket. It was Saturday and they were having a picnic. He always liked when he could get away for the weekend afternoon and have a picnic with his two favorite girls._

_"Daddy come and push us!" a voice from the right squealed._

_He turned to see his two girls, Charlotte and Ashlyn. They were swinging on the swing set. They were a few other children around but all he could see were those two. Only one of them was his daughter by birth, but since Charlotte and Ashlyn had met they had become like two peas in a pod. It was normal for her to show up at one of the family picnics, she was practically family as of now._

_"Come let's see how high you two can get." He beamed as he came to stand behind them._

_"You won't be able to swing me this high when I go to heaven." Charlotte explained._

_"What?" Jane asked confused._

_Those words made his heart skip a beat. He looked around to find Angela and she was right under the tree putting out food._

_"When Red John kills me. You will never be able to push me again." She explained as her face began to morph from his beloved Charlotte to the lifeless corpse he's been trying to forget for the past ten years._

_"Yes then you'll throw me away. Act as if I never mattered and then he'll get me too." Ashlyn exclaimed as she began to choke on her own blood._

_"I'm sorry." He cried out._

_"You're sorry, I love you too and you let the bad man kill me."_

_"Then you left me unprotected, and he got me too." Ashlyn told him._

_"I kept screaming for you, but you never came." Angela moaned as she appeared from nowhere._

_"Daddy, I don't want to go." Charlotte added for good measure._

_It was getting to be too much. The voices, the images, the blood. He couldn't take the walls closing in on him, he was falling into an abyss from which he couldn't escape. It was a madness and he just wanted it to stop - make it stop, he needed Charlotte. Where was Charlotte?_

"Charlotte" he screamed as he came back to consciousness.

His vision was unfocused and he was breathing faster than was expected. He was trying but failing at calming himself. Then he felt them, two strong familiar arms holding him, and a scent of sweet cinnamon, and a voice. A heavenly voice whispering sweet words of comfort. He was safe.

"Lisbon." He sighed as all the terror from the nightmare melted away.

"So what do you think happened?" Van Pelt asked Rigsby after she looked through the window of Jane's room.

"I'm not one to speculate, did you see him when he came on to the scene? He was on edge, and he looked extremely spooked about something when he got there."

"Of course he looked spooked. He knew the victim. There were pictures of him and Angela on the mantle. It was weird seeing them."

"I've always seen him smiling, he's a smiler, but the smile in those pictures with Charlotte and Angela, I've never seen him that a happy. Do you think he will ever be that happy again?" Van Pelt asked Wayne hopeful.

"Oh I think there's someone who is very close to making him that happy." He smiled looking back into the room.

"Where's Cho?" she asked out of the blue.

"He had to tie up some loose ends." He told her knowingly.

*WTP

What Cho had just done was not a bribe, he was an officer of the law. He explained to them Jane was a very sick man, and he was using belladonna for all the right reasons. It was a white lie, but Jane was going to get the help he needed and in the end Cho would be glad to have helped out a friend. Right now though he was not paying attention to where he was going and he bumped into a woman, which sent all her papers flying.

"I'm sorry, here let me help you with those." He scurried quickly helping her pick them up.

"Thank you so much, I'm sorry I'm clumsy a lot. I should've been paying more attention to where I was going." She smiled.

Cho took the time to appraise the woman standing before him. She was very cute. Long black straight hair, it looked soft, and her eyes. Her eyes were beautiful, there was something familiar about them. He was thrown from his thoughts and that's when he noticed it. She wore a small brace on her left leg, it was making that clicking sound every time she moved her foot across the floor. He quickly helped her get to her feet.

"Once again I'm sorry, I was getting turned all around." She smiled at him.

"It's no problem" he smiled and walked off.

She smiled politely and watched as he walked away and then she took out her cellphone.

"I just ran into the one they call Cho. He was quite handsomer then I expected."

She listened kindly to the person on the end of the phone going on and on about this and that while trying not to roll her eyes.

"He never expected I was here for Jane, in fact I think you don't have anything to worry about because he did what I was here for. So you don't have to come down here." She explained.

Then she listened as the caller went on and on about how she was tired of having to clean up the messes of one Patrick Jane but it was time they had a face to face. She knew now something that was supposed to be so simple was about to be very complicated. She also knew that it wasn't her job to tell her boss when they were making a mistake. This one was colossal.

"Fine I'll make the arrangements. See ya soon." She stated with fake sarcasm. This was going to be fun.

"WTP*

Lisbon had made the worst mistake of her life. Jane was well on his way to getting dressed and looking almost like his old self but then she brought up the belladonna.

"I'm not doing that Lisbon. I nearly died, I'm not messing with that poison!" he stated defensively.

"Jane there was a tox screen done here, and I've seen it. I know what was in your system. Now all I'm asking is for you to let me help you."

"I'm fine. Although if you really want to help me, I need to speak to Billie."

"Jane I don't know. I made it disappear, the toxscreen I mean, but Jane, you really need to talk to someone. I was with you when you were on that stuff. You were stealing ambulances, and chasing nonexistent rabbits into backyards. Talking to gnomes and worst of all you were talking to your dead daughter. You have to let me help you, or I'll have to tell Bertram and you will permanently be let go from the CBI."

"Fine, I'll do anything you want, but first I have to see Billie just once."

"Jane I understand that you want to find out what happened to Ashlyn, and I will do whatever I can, but we need to put your health first. I don't want you working this case, you're too close."

"Lisbon listen to me. I need to see her, talk to her, I need to see Billie right now!" he asked getting agitated.

"Why? What's so important?" she asked confused.

"She's Charlotte Lisbon, my little girl isn't dead.


	3. Meet Billie

Chapter 3: Meet Billie

Lisbon hated the hold Patrick Jane had on her. Everyone knew he needed to be someplace far away from this case, but here he was with her outside the home of Billie Anderson. She didn't know where he had gotten this wild idea, the idea that Billie was really his dead daughter, Charlotte; but she thought if she placated him, then maybe he would get the help he needed. Lisbon knew he would never go into rehab as that was too much like a sanitarium, but maybe if she let him talk to this girl and after finding something useful for the case, he might then decide to get some help.

"Hi Billie, my name is Patrick Jane. I work for the CBI and want to know if I can ask you a couple of questions that might help us find Ashlyn's killer?"

"Of course, come in. I want to do anything I can to help you find out who did this to Ashlyn." She answered gesturing for both Jane and Lisbon to come inside.

"Now, Billie, if your parents aren't at home, you don't have to talk to us. It's against the law for you to talk to us without a parent or guardian actually present." Lisbon added for good measure.

"Ma'am I don't have anything to hide. Ashlyn was my best friend, I need to know what happened to her.

" So she was your best friend? For how long?" Jane asked carefully.

"We met about five years ago. I was in a park not too far from here and I saw this swing set. Since I hadn't been on one in ages, I started swinging." She smiled.

Patrick got up and began walking around the room as she talked. Billie had met Ashlyn at a park, he was pretty sure it was THE park, but why would she go there. None of it made any sense. HOW did she know to go to that park? WHY did she go to that park? WAS he crazy? He knew Lisbon thought he was and because of the blue mystic and Belladonna. He didn't feel crazy. And although he had seen some very strange things, it was never what he wanted to see. He knew why now, because she was right here. His Charlie was right here. He just had to prove it.

"Billie what does your father do?" Jane asked interrupting her story.

"Oh - that's part of the reason I was staying with Ashlyn. My parents take part in Doctors without Borders. They are in Africa for the next three months helping the children there.

"Have you lived here your whole life?" Jane asked.

"Yes, but I don't see what that has to do with what happened to Ashlyn. Do you have any leads on who could've done this? I think if I had been downstairs, he would have killed me, too."

"That's something we just don't know," Lisbon told the troubled girl.

"Why weren't you downstairs?" Jane quietly asked Billie.

"I was waiting for the shower. Ashlyn had just gotten out and I was going to go in."

"That house has three baths - truthfully - why weren't you downstairs?" Jane took the girl's wrist in his hand very gently.

"I had gotten a phone call, it was some freak. He was whispering on the phone, saying all kinds of crazy shit and it distracted me. While my best friend was being butchered I was on the phone with some William Blake freak." She began to sob.

Jane had been getting lost in the silver-framed photographs lining the mantel but that bit of information immediately grabbed his attention.

"William Blake freak, what did he say to you?"

"I don't know, it was a poem we learned in school recently Tyger Tyger something, I don't know.

With those words Teresa Lisbon was frozen in her seat. Patrick had been acting strangely during this whole interview, and really how was he helping the investigation. But when Billie said this, Teresa felt her blood run cold.

"Lisbon we need to go." Jane groaned.

"Jane?" she questioned.

"We need to go now!" he shouted pulling her from the house.

Teresa got up and Jane proceeded to practically drag her from the house. She knew something was up, he was acting totally unprofessional.

"Jane, that was unprofessional, you dragging me out of there." She was upset. "I need to go back right now." She told him turning to go back in.

"No! What you need to do is get a warrant and whatever else you have to do to get her parents back here." He told her handing her a photograph.

She looked at the pretty face of a little blonde girl in a polka dotted dress. She was caught at the moment she smiled up at the camera. It was weird looking because it did look like the original picture had been cut down, you could see the arm of someone sitting beside her.

"Jane what are you talking about?"

"How the hell did they get this picture and, more importantly, how the hell did they get my daughter?!

He quickly handed her another picture he pulled from his wallet. It was similar to the picture from the house but this one was worn from being in his wallet. Only in this picture a little girl in the same dress smiled back at her and Jane was sitting there beside her, it was his arm. It was a picture of Charlotte.

"Oh shit." Was all she could muster to say.


	4. The Not So Empty Coffin

Chapter 4: The Not So Empty Coffin

_Jane couldn't stop shaking. He had been shaking since he walked in that room and seen... no he couldn't think about it right now. He couldn't think about it, because if he thought about it then he would know it truly was happening. This was happening and yet - couldn't be happening, because what kind of world do you live in where there are such things as baby coffins._

_He looked to his right and there she was as strong and beautiful as always. She came because she needed him, she always came when she needed him._

_"I'm so sorry sweetheart." She whispered._

_"Sorry for what?"_

_"For the lies, but it's how things have to be. You made this choice. Here hold this." She told him, handing him a jar._

_"What's this?" he asked confused._

_"It's a jar, whatever you do don't drop it. It's not time for it to be opened yet."_

_"What?"_

"Jane!" Lisbon shouted startling him back to reality.

He had been having very strange dreams lately. Dreams almost like puzzles and he was trying his best to put them together into some kind of order. But where was the order? No matter what was happening in the dream, at the end he was given a jar. A jar with a single butterfly inside. He was always told not to drop it because it wasn't time for it to be opened yet. What did that mean?

"Are you listening to anything I'm saying?" Lisbon asked again, this time even more stress showing in her voice.

"Not really, but I can imagine the things going through your head. You're thinking I'm stressed, and the fact of my going through detox right now is not helping my situation. You are thinking the drugs are clouding my judgment and perhaps I'm seeing things not there. That's not the truth though, I have never been thinking so clearly in my life and it's all because of Billie. Billie is Charlie, I mean look at just how similar the names are." He told her very matter of factly.

"Jane, I'll admit the pictures are similar but it means nothing. The dress she was wearing was very popular that year, and family photos are often posed just like that! Don't get me started on how all kids look the same at that age. I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Stop talking to me like I'm a child!" he shouted.

Lisbon really wasn't trying to be as evil as she appeared right now. She knew this man and cared deeply for him, even though she kept denying to anyone who asked if they were an item. Inexplicably, he had her heart. She did not want him getting his hopes up about something this epic. Charlotte, alive. Could she be alive? He had seen her body, had caressed and even held her body until the cops came. He was institutionalized shortly after, so maybe she wasn't dead. Maybe they saved her and then… no realistically this could not be happening. Charlotte Jane, Patrick Jane's sweet little girl really pöwas dead. But this time, Lisbon would be there to help her friend when his world came crumbling down once again.

"Can't you drive any faster?" he asked snippily from the passenger seat.

"I'm going the speed limit Jane, they'll be there when we get there. That's another thing, they seem to be cooperating by admitting they are kidnappers."

"Lisbon, it's just been uncovered they have held my daughter captive for over ten years. I don't know what they've done to her mind, why she doesn't recognize me. It's just one more of Red John's tricks. They probably want to know how much we know. Then they'll try their best to off themselves in the nearest bathroom. That's another thing, did you make sure they were well searched when they were detained?"

"First off they weren't detained, we asked them to come in and they came in. And, I can add, they came in without lawyers! Secondly, yes they were searched. Rigsby and Cho are with them right now. Van Pelt hasn't been in yet, I called and she said she was doing something for you. What's up now, Jane?"

"Don't worry Lisbon, Van Pelt is taking care of something personal for me. She's not in any danger - I promise." He giving her the first genuine smile she had gotten from him in days.

*WTP*

No matter how she tried to turn her eyes away she just couldn't. It kept drawing her back to it, it was like it was saying look at me. Look at what I am, you see me, did you see what was inside of me? That's right, I exist because people like you can't remove the monsters from the world. She really wished she would've told Jane no.

**_Flashback_**

_After about an hour Van Pelt had to leave the room. She didn't want to say they were the rants of a crazy man, but what Jane was thinking was crazy. She had read the case file, mind you - she did avoid looking at the pictures closely because she just didn't want to see the body of a poor child butchered and thrown away as if she didn't matter. That was just something no one should have to see, but she knew Jane had. He told them in his statement he came home and found both his wife and daughter dead, and the paramedic said when she got there, he was clinging to the body of the young child._

_Then Grace thought about something odd, the paramedics account was taken four days later. Why was it so long after? She was going to take a quick look at it again but Lisbon's office door opened and a much disheveled Jane came out. He smiled as soon as their eyes locked._

_"Listen Grace I know what I'm saying sounds like I've lost it, but don't you think I would know if I'd lost it?"_

_"Well yes, Jane, but maybe you should just take a few days and go somewhere and relax."_

_"I can't relax!" he shouted._

_Seeing Grace literally jump when he yelled, Jane knew he had to calm himself. How were people going to believe he wasn't crazy if he continued yelling and running around like a madman?_

_"I've been talking to some people and moving things around. I'm getting her folks sent back here so we can have a face-to-face conversation and so there's something I need for you to do for me. Will you do it?"_

_"Jane for you I'll do anything."_

_"I know you will. Some people like to think you wouldn't have the guts to do something like this but I know I can count on you. I need you to go to this address and stay with the package. Don't let it out of your sight. Will you do that?"_

_"I'll stay with it as long as you need me to, Jane.  
__**End Flashback**_

If she had known then, what she knew now, she would have told Jane. She really would have told him this was something she didn't think she could do. He was her friend though and she really had wanted to help him with whatever it was he was going through right now. So she would do it.

"Jane." A woman in scrubs called to her from a doorway. She quickly got to her feet and followed in tow.

^WTP*

Lisbon had pushed gently until Jane checked into a semi-outpatient program. He went during the day for counseling and then checked in at night so they could watch him. She felt good about this. She knew she could keep track of him on a day-to-day basis, but she needed sleep. If he was in a hospital at least she would know he wasn't out scoring anything. The thing was, right now Jane wasn't worried about a score. He was too busy believing his daughter was alive. Lisbon and Jane stood outside of the interrogation room. Dr. and Dr. Anderson sat inside looking very anxious.

"Look at them. The guilt is coming off of them in waves, do you feel it?" he beamed as he rubbed his hands together. She could just feel the attack he had planned to destroy them.

"Tread lightly." She told him.

"Tread lightly, Lisbon, they have had my daughter for the past decade and you want me to take it easy on them. I can't do that, this is one of Red John's sick and twisted games and I've been missing it all this time. What do you think they've done to her?"

"Jane I'm already putting myself out there on the line letting you even talk to these people, and they came without a lawyer! You will go a long way a lot faster if you don't treat them like perps. They are victims, she has been well taken care of, and you don't even know for sure that she is your daughter.

"Oh don't worry about that, Van Pelt is confirming that right now."

"How? Jane what have you done now?" Lisbon asked grabbing his arm. Jane was coming unhinged and she was watching it. She wasn't going to be able to help him if he couldn't get hold of himself.

He didn't answer - just smiled as he entered the interrogation room. He shut it behind him signaling that he would be doing this on his own.

"Dammit." She cursed heading back to her office intending to track down Van Pelt.

*WTP*

Van Pelt had failed him. She told him she would stay with the cargo the whole time and in a sense she had, but when they opened the little box covered in butterflies and pulled out that…that. Carcass was the only thing she could call it. She couldn't call it Charlotte and she sure as hell wouldn't call it a body either because it took her breath away when it came out. Patrick Jane had paid them enough to preserve her for a long time in her final resting place, but it had been ten years and well, things were starting to go. She noticed her blonde hair though, and the pretty little dress she wore, and then she had to leave. She simply had to leave because if she had stayed any longer, she would have lost it. Both emotionally and physically.

"Agent Van Pelt." The coroner paged loudly when she came out.

Van Pelt turned to give her a smile but it vanished once she saw how she was covered in stuff. Stuff which once had been inside of Jane's daughter.

"These are the samples you were asking for. Of course, there was no saliva, but there was plenty of tissue I could get for DNA testing." The Coroner explained handing her the vials.

"Thank you so much, I'm sorry about bailing on you like that." Grace explained sheepishly.

"It's fine it gets to the best of us sometimes. A little child, when I found out who it was, well I just hope Patrick gets his answers."

I left the ME Office a little happier, I had done my part and I just hoped in the end this brought happiness for Jane and would not be the final nail in his coffin.

ME Cynthia Dupree loved her job. Many people asked her how could she say such a thing but she did. She loved being able to look at a body and tell what happened to that person, it was an important job, and although lots of people didn't want to do that type of work, it was a job where workers were always in demand.

The moment she found out it was Patrick Jane and then what he wanted, she jumped at the task. Now some may think it was an awful thing to say, but she had been intrigued about the Red John case. She wanted a way to get her hands on anything about that case for most of her career and here she was digging up the body of his sweet Charlotte and taking samples. What were the samples for? Did they now think it was someone else in the coffin? Would ME Cynthia Dupree's face be plastered all over TV after discovering something that would catch Red John once and for all.

There was just one problem. There was no body. Sure when it was disinterred at first glance it looked like the body of a child. Whoever had done this had buried her with the remains of something else, Dupree was thinking maybe an animal of some kind because the smell was right. After the detective fled the room and she finally examined the small item, she discovered it was a doll. It was a doll inside of the coffin no human remains whatsoever. Then she had done the cruelest thing in the world.

"Stop doubting yourself, you did the right thing." The woman told her.

"How can you stand there like this and tell me what I'm doing is the right thing. What did I give him?" Dupree asked angered.

"I'm sorry that's on a need to know basis and you don't need to know." She said as she gathered her things.

Dupree watched as she took the doll from inside the coffin. She looked at it like she was fond of it, and then placed the doll back inside the coffin. She was taking that, too. She was trying to focus, but the constant clicking sound of the brace that she wore on her leg was distracting.

"I think that I'm a part of the need to know. I just lied to a man, a man I care deeply about, and you just made me destroy his life so tell me now!" she demanded.

At that moment the woman she had been talking seemed to get angry. She walked up to her, and although something told her to run it was if she was frozen to the spot.

"I know Cynthia. You are absolutely right, you deserve to know everything. And... You want to hear me say you are right?" she asked calmly as she approached.

"Yes." She replied almost in a trance.

"Cynthia I was never here. You spent the past three hours collecting samples of Charlotte Jane and you gave what you found to Agent Van Pelt. You followed protocol and nothing was tampered with in any way."

She was very proud of herself. It was quite simple to hypnotize this woman. She was very open and very malleable. If Patrick had been here, he would have told her she was very good and he was proud. She knew him, and she knew he wasn't angry by the fact that she was better, when it came to this kind of thing. It was one of the things he loved most about her.

She couldn't wait to get home and soak her feet. Walking around in this damn leg brace was a pain in the ass. First though, she had to leave a phone message. She called the number she had memorized.

"It's done. I can't believe I just had to see what was probably the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life. What the hell was buried in that box! When are you going to get here, this is about to go to shit and I'm not going down alone." She shouted for good measure and ended the call.


	5. A New Arrival

Chapter 5: A New Arrival

Patrick Jane looked at one Dr. Alvin Anderson and his very lovely wife, Tracey, but he couldn't get a read on them. They seemed so normal, as they sat there in their matching safari outfits, which would be comical if it weren't making him sick to his stomach. They seemed totally oblivious of the real reason they were there and that alone angered him.

"I want to talk to the two of you about Billie." he told them in a completely perfunctory manner.

"Is our sweet Billie alright, when we heard the news about poor Ashlyn we couldn't believe it. We were already putting in plans to get back to the states as soon as we could." Tracy spoke for the two of them.

"Yes, Tracey, she's quite sweet, but Billie's brave, too, she spoke to me earlier and told me she was on the phone with a caller while her friend was being murdered. That's the reason why the CBI has asked the two of you here, we think your daughter's life might be in danger." He told them waiting for a reaction.

"In danger. Who would want to hurt our Billie. She's a good girl, she stays out of trouble, no one would want to hurt her. We take measures to make sure she's protected." Alvin stated.

"She's protected you say. How? I've been looking into your accounts, and I see that every month there's a rather large amount of money direct deposited into your bank account."

Once he said this, Jane tried to read the reaction between the two people in front of him. He thought they would fake shock and then try their best to lie their way out of it, but that's not what happened.

"It's the money we get for a private project we're working on." Alvin stated quietly as his wife began to play with her hands.

Jane knew he had them, but before he informed the rest of the team what he was about to find out, he was going to need a head start. He quickly locked the interrogation room door and turned off the camera monitoring the room.

"Okay, I've turned off the camera, and if you just tell me how you got dragged into this kidnapping scheme of Red John's, I will do whatever I can to help you. You have respected careers in the community and I just don't see the two of you going around the corner and killing yourselves. So tell me, where can I find him? How did you get involved in all of this?"

He was thrown for a loop even further when the female Dr. Anderson looked fondly at him. And before he could react at all, she grasped his hand and gave it squeeze! When he looked up, she was looking at him with so much concern it made his heartbeat speed up. Then he remembered something...

_"I won't do it!" Tracey Anderson shouted in his face._

_"Come on Trace, I know how you're feeling about me right now. I know what you think of me. If I could bring Angela back now, you know I would, but I can't. Please, you have to help me" Jane pleaded._

_"I have to help you. Why? You took my sister away, do you realize what my father did after you left with Angie? He was much harder on all of us because his precious Angela was gone. I didn't want to be a part of the carnie world either, but I stayed because I knew my father needed me to keep things afloat. You are no better than your mother!" she spat in his face._

_There was a loud banging sound and when he looked at her again she wasn't there. Where she once sat was a jar, with a butterfly flying around erratically inside!_

Patrick Jane shook himself, he needed to calm down and focus. But all he could see was Tracey Anderson's face staring back at him, with concern.

"I don't know you!" he shouted snatching her hand away.

"Patty, is it time to open the jar?" she asked.

That was it, the mention of the jar was all it took and his heart rate kicked up another notch. He could hear it beating in his ears, and he thought he might vomit. This was not a symptom of his detox, this was something else. He fled from the room. He couldn't stop himself from running to the bathroom, even when, as though from a great distance, he heard Lisbon shout his name.

*WTP*

Grace Van Pelt knew what she was doing had nothing to do with her current business at the hospital, but something kept nagging at her. Patrice Davis was the paramedic who had been called out to Jane's house the night of the murders. Her partner Bob Tucker had passed away two years ago, from a massive heart attack. So Patrice was the only one who could give her an eyewitness account of what happened that night. Since she was waiting on the DNA anyway, it was only right if she got some answers of her own.

"Agent Van Pelt, I was told you wanted to see me. Is everything alright, has something happened to my husband?" the woman asked rushing toward her.

"Oh it's nothing like that ma'am, I just was here for some tests, and I had a few questions only you can help me with. I'm so sorry if you got the impression something had happened to your family."

"I'm sorry, it's just whenever I think about Daniel being on the force, and then a cop comes I automatically think of the family being notified. Please, have a seat." She told her gesturing toward some chairs.

"Is it true you were the paramedic who was called out to the Jane home the night of the Red John murders?" Grace got straight to the point.

Jane had been teaching her to read people, and this woman was all over the place. Patrice Davis swallowed three times as if all of a sudden her throat had become seriously dry. Then she began to fiddle with a little butterfly pin on the end of her jacket. It was very beautiful, Grace had never seen anything like it. The detail was beautiful, and it must have cost a fortune. Certainly it was nothing she could afford on her salary. It certainly was distracting her somehow. She had to shake herself as she awaited the answer.

"Yeah, wow! Thinking back it was about ten years ago. I was doing the ambulance thing to help pay for med school. Bob and I were the first on the scene. I shudder to think about it." She seemed shocked by it but then there was still something off about all of this.

"What exactly did you see?" she asked.

"What is this about? I mean we all know what Red John did that night? Why is it you want to know the details of what happened that night?" she asked obviously on edge.

"No reason, Patrick Jane is my friend. We work together and he's going through some things right now, and I just want to understand more of what he went through then. I mean, I know if I just found my wife dead I would be traumatized, but his little girl, too. He would never see her again, it must have been awful."

"It was and I will never forget how he was when we pulled his daughter from him. He was clinging to her like she was all he had left you know. He didn't want me to take her and help her. Listen I'm sorry but I'm quite busy and I shouldn't be talking about this. I've tried to forget everything that happened then."

Before Van Pelt could ask her anything else she practically ran from the room. Davis was definitely hiding something, and that's when Grace realized what she had said. She had said she was trying to help his daughter. Was Charlotte not dead when he got there?

*WTP*

Jane needed to get it together. Something definitely wasn't right, first of all there was Billie who he was pretty sure was Charlotte. He just needed to wait for Van Pelt to come through with the golden ticket and tell him the body in the coffin was not his daughter. He was going to be so happy, but then there was the second point; what about the poor girl who was in the box instead.

"Jane get out here now!" Lisbon shouted from outside his stall.

Was she in the men's bathroom?

"Lisbon I know you want to be treated like one of the boys, but I think you coming into our washroom is pushing it." He quipped.

"I had to let the Andersons go, what the hell happened in there?" she asked.

She was trying to keep him focused on the task at hand. And although the task did consist of accusing good people of horrible crimes, it was helping him focus. It was almost time for her to take him to the hospital and he wasn't looking good. He was not looking good at all. He needed a nice bed where doctors would be around if something went wrong, and a good cup a tea. He told her once it was like a hug in a cup. All he had to do was get a pot of tea inside him and she was sure he'd be alright.

"You let them GO? Are you insane? They are probably jetting off to South America by now - with my daughter!" Jane shouted as he exited the bathroom.

Jane took out his cellphone to call in a few favors, to make sure certain people didn't try to book a plane or ship out of the states. A lot of people underestimated him. He played a role and they all believed it, they would think twice about all of this once he found Red John and savagely murdered him. They would think twice about underestimating him indeed.

He looked up and saw, in fact, the Andersons hadn't left. It seemed they were waiting on a ride to come and get them and it arrived in the form of their daughter, Billie. He hadn't really gotten a good look at her without her knowledge but now he could see how beautiful she was. She had his hair but she had Angela's face. It was uncanny, they always wondered who she would look more like when she got older, and he had been right. She was just a beautiful as her rmother at a young age. He had to look away because his emotions were getting to be too much.

"Jane, I have it!" Van Pelt smiled as she ran toward him with a manila envelope. She was happy as she handed it to him. After her talk with the nurse, she thought maybe this could be good news.

Lisbon didn't know what was going on when Van Pelt handed the paper to Jane. And then he opened it. When he opened it she got a look. She saw the end results. They were positive and something told her in this situation he was hoping for negative.

'What does it say?" Van Pelt asked hopefully.

"I was wrong." He answered brokenly.

"What?"

"I was wrong." He snapped.

Lisbon didn't like the look of him. He looked like he didn't know if wanted to vomit or pass out, or both.

"Jane?" she questioned.

She watched as he took one more look at Billie who was leaving with her folks. She looked in his direction and then she decided she was going to go their way. Lisbon just knew this would result in yet another lawsuit she was going to have to handle.

"Lisbon, I think I'm ready to go to the hospital now." He told her as he took her hand, both voice and hand being shaky.

She had taken a good look at his face. Jane was volunteering to go to the hospital. He wanted to leave and he wanted to leave now. She was about to guide him out when Billie was there with them and they'd missed their window to leave quietly.

"Mr. Jane, I don't know what happened in there with my folks, but I know you were only doing your job. I believe you can find out who did this horrible thing to Ashlyn." She spoke gently and when she smiled at him, her smile was beautiful and genuine. Lisbon noted how alike it was with the few genuine smiles Patrick Jane had given her over the years, and for just a second she could almost believe this young woman WAS his daughter.

Before Jane could give Billie the generic mantra he gave all the relatives of victims, she embraced him in the tightest hug. He was about to protest but he felt her slip something into his pocket. He held on and let her hug him. This might be the last time he saw her.

Van Pelt was heartbroken. All of this was playing out as if it were going to be happily ever after but she felt like she had played a major part in the saddest fairy tale ending she ever read. No, she was wrong. Jane wrong? How the hell could Jane be wrong? She had to leave, she could not take being here anymore.

As Van Pelt walked toward her car lost in thought, she bumped into someone else who was leaving the building.

"I'm so sorry. I was distracted." She apologized to a woman.

"It's quite alright, Agent Van Pelt." The woman replied.

"Do I know you?" Van Pelt asked, as she tried to match a name to the face before her.

"I'm Abigail Warren, my friends call me Abby. It's quite alright, I have to go as I'm late for an appointment."

Grace smiled at her as she walked out. She was very attractive. She loved her hair it was so dark and well managed. The only thing about her which was distracting, and Grace could have kicked herself for staring, but Abby seemed to be wearing some kind of brace on her leg and it continued to click and clack as she walked down the road.

*WTP*

Abigail Warren was cursing the damn contraption she was force to wear on her leg. She knew Van Pelt was staring at her the whole time and she just wanted to get out of there before she was spotted. She didn't need Cho seeing her, and if Jane saw her, she had no idea how he would react! When she finally reached her car she sank into the front seat and began to beat her head against the steering wheel.

"Abigail, please!" the occupant of the passenger seat said.

"Please, is that all you have to say? I'm the one who had to watch a good man get the saddest news on the planet. You should have seen his face, he's broken now. You broke him, how can you live with yourself?"

"You don't think this is hard for me! You think I want to know he's going through this, he sure as hell doesn't need anything like this going on now, since he checked himself into that place."

"Exactly, so let's open the god-damned jar already!"

"Not yet, it's not time. He has only narrowed the suspects down to seven. I have to keep him safe. I'm protecting him."

"Destroying his life is protecting him?" she asked in disbelief.

"Of course it is, and I know best in this situation."

"Why do you think you know what's for the best in this situation?"

"Sweetheart, I'm his mother, and like they say a mother always knows best. Now take me to the hotel, tomorrow I'm going to be reunited with my son." She smiled.

Abigail rolled her eyes and cranked up the car. Sometimes she really hated her job.


	6. Riddle Me This

Chapter 6: Riddle Me This

Abigail Warren tossed and turned in her bed that night. She kept telling herself she wasn't an evil bitch. But when she rewound her actions of the last couple of days, how could she not think what she was doing was truly horrible. To do this to Patrick, and more importantly Charlotte. She didn't even deserve to be alive. She closed her eyes and tried her best to think of happier times with the both of them...

_They were in the study. That was her favorite place to be in Patrick's home, the study. It was lined with books and she loved to read. On a cold day like today they were settled in front of the fireplace playing games. Charlotte was on a blanket playing with her new Piper, who was a cute little pig wearing a tutu. God she loved that little girl more and more every day. The holiday break would be up soon and she would have to go home again. Home, how could she possibly go home after spending this time with Patrick? She loved him so much, he was always so good natured, and now, he was teaching her tricks. He told her soon she would be better than he was. That alone was enough to keep her happy for many days to come._

_"Okay, are you ready for another?" Patrick asked from behind his desk._

_"Yes, but you need to stop going so easy on me, I want a complicated one this time. One to make me really think." She told him._

_He looked at Abby as she sat on the couch in the study. She was relaxed and happy, and she wasn't wearing the ugly leg brace which made her seem clumsy, but which her mother insisted she wear. She was getting better, and to be forced to walk around clicking and clacking just wasn't right. He would have a talk with her and make her understand, Abby was better and she didn't deserve such a limited kind of life. Not his Abby._

_"Okay fine, here's one to make you really think. A man was found dead in his study. He was slumped over his desk and a gun was in his hand. There was a cassette recorder on his desk. When the police entered the room and pressed the play button on the tape recorder they heard: "I can't go on. I have nothing to live for." Then there was the sound of a gunshot. How did the detective immediately know the man had been murdered and it wasn't a suicide?"_

_"That's not taking it easy on me!" she gasped._

_"Think about it. I'm sure if you take your time and think about it you'll get it."_

Abby was torn from her daydream by the ringing of the phone. When she looked at the Caller ID, she wanted to scream. It was her.

"I'm off the clock now!" she shouted.

"I know this, that's why I'm not calling to talk to my assistant. I'm afraid, do you realize what might happen tomorrow?" she asked.

"Hmm let me think, you will come face-to-face with a son you haven't seen in ten years. First of all there's a good chance he might hate you. That's actually the welcome you deserve and the one which would be better than the alternative. The alternative being that he will look at you and crumble into an utter mess in front of all of his colleagues. Then when he finally calms down, he'll remember how you mind raped him."

"I did no such thing!" she replied in utter horror.

"You're right, you didn't. You had me do it. I had to look him in the eye and... but I just can't think about it right now."

"Sweetheart, you did what needed to be done. IF he had remembered what happened in the house that night, he truly would've gone mad. Now did you want that to happen?"

"No, but he thinks it happened anyway, and that he was cured by Sophie."

"Aww Sophie Miller, I didn't want to bring her on board at first, but she came in handy. I thought for sure when he went to her after her husband died it would come out, but thank goodness, it didn't. Which is great because, I swear, if she had made all this work blow up in our faces, I swear, I would... "

"End her, if she had made all this work blow up in your face, you would have ended her."

"Don't be so dramatic, Abigail." She scolded.

"You need to stop doing that, I'm almost thirty years old and you need to stop scolding me."

"I do no such thing."

"Yes, you do, constantly. Everything I do - everything I say, if it's not as you wish, then you scold me. Don't do that. You know that's what you did to Patrick."

"It's a mother's prerogative Abigail, you are my babies. If I weren't this way, you wouldn't love me."

Abigail could practically feel her mother's smile over the telephone. She knew she had called because she was worried. She was right to be worried. Everything was coming out and he was only down to seven suspects. It was too soon, but maybe it was best that it all came out now anyway. She needed to get close to him, and let out the trigger. She needed all of this to be over. She wanted her brother back.

*WTP*

Teresa promised herself she was not going to be that person. A mother hen sitting around and worrying. It was just, when it came to Patrick Jane, she couldn't help but worry. He was like an abused puppy you couldn't help but want to love him. She could say it in her mind, she loved Patrick Jane. She did, and right now he was going through so much.

Tonight the ride to the treatment center was mostly silent, but she could tell this whole mess with Billie was eating him up inside. Jane had thought those results were going to come back negative. He was hoping beyond hope, it wasn't his daughter he laid to rest in the small coffin, and, oh, a part of Teresa wanted it, too. She didn't want her friend to hurt so deeply anymore. If he could just have his daughter back, she knew he would not be as bad off as he was now. She knew how much he must have loved Angela, she was his wife, he still wore his wedding ring. But she also knew Charlotte was daddy's little girl, and the loss of his daughter had made a deep cut into his very soul. Her death had done the most hurt.

So Teresa had stayed. She stayed as he washed up and changed into his PJs, and then when the nurse came in and checked his vitals. They were worried because he was a bit dehydrated. They decided he needed an IV of fluids tonight. She liked the place he had picked to get his treatment, it was very nice and also very expensive. She knew what he was making at CBI most definitely was not paying for this. Just more of the Patrick Jane puzzle she'd been trying to put together for years. She'd probably die before she had put all the pieces together but that would be just fine with her. She was where she wanted to be.

"I'm sorry I'm not much company, Lisbon. I'm sorry about everything, I think tomorrow I want to go to the Andersons one more time."

"Jane, I don't want to use my role as your boss, but I think you need to stay as far away from this case and the Andersons as you possibly can. It's doing something to your head, and you need all your strength to recover."

"Aww, recovery because I'm a junkie right. I'm a crazed junkie, I mean what kind of a man takes hallucinogens to get visions of his dead daughter. Then he thinks maybe she's not so dead. You ever think maybe you just need to stop trying to save me? That your life, all of your lives would be better, if you just cut your losses by letting me fall."

"What? See, I should've gotten you here sooner. You're just going through some tough things, physically and mentally, right now Patrick. The only reason I wanted you off of Ashlyn's case is because you knew her, she was like your daughter. I didn't want you to have to constantly be reminded of her dying. I want you to get better so you can catch the bastard who did this!"

Patrick Jane took the time to really look at Teresa. She was spending her first night off in weeks here with him. She was so beautiful and he just wished that he could... Could he? Teresa Lisbon was shocked when his lips touched hers. His kiss was not demanding, it was sweet and innocent and perfect. Then she wanted more and before she realized it, she had pushed him down onto the bed and was kissing him passionately. He quickly removed the blazer she was wearing and tried to help her untuck her shirt. Heat was radiating from him and the want between her thighs was unbearable. She wanted him and she knew he wanted her, which was why she had to stop.

"No, we can't!" she panted stopping suddenly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I never should've... "

"Don't you dare apologize, I didn't mean never. I just... our first time together will not be in your rehab bedroom." She smiled.

Her smile was contagious, she hadn't shot him down. She was right, their first time shouldn't be there. He would make it special, very special, like Teresa. It would be the first of many. He was going to get through this, and then he would give Teresa Lisbon the life she deserved.

"I better go, they'll be kicking me out soon. I'll be back first thing in the morning, okay?"

She decided since she practically had attacked the man a few seconds ago, she could hug him goodnight. It felt good to feel his arms around her. He hugged her tightly as if he didn't want her to let go. A part of her didn't, a part wanted him to slide over so she could get into bed with him. She didn't though.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Love you." She quickly covered her mouth shocked at what she had just admitted out loud.

Patrick was stunned at first but then he mustered a smile for her, he wanted to say it he really did but he was just overwhelmed with emotion and he couldn't. She understood though because, well, she was his Lisbon.

He watched her leave, and decided to get some shuteye. He was feeling really tired.

*WTP*

Her room had butterflies everywhere. For the longest time she never knew why she loved them so much, but they truly were beautiful. How something as ugly as a caterpillar turned into something as beautiful as a butterfly was such a mystery. Now she knew why, it was in their code. She remembered the first day he taught it to her.

_She wanted to go outside and build a snowman with her daddy, but he told her it wasn't the right time. They had been sitting in the stuffy study all day. Her Aunt Abby was there. She had only met her twice, and she always thought it was weird that she was her aunt. She didn't look like her other aunts, her skin tone was different. She was black and she had the prettiest hair. It was really curly, like she and her daddy's but it was dark black, almost blue. In the mornings it would be curly like hers and stop right on her shoulders, but she would go in the bathroom and press it and when she came out it would be so long and straight. Her Aunt would let her play with it as much as she wanted. She also knew she was part of the reason why they couldn't go outside. Abby was sick, but not the kind a doctor could give her medicine to fix. Her daddy had explained to her something was wrong with her back and one of her legs. Scoli something so that's why they were in the study. Abby was sitting on the couch playing with daddy, and she and Piper were having a picnic._

_"What are you doing?" she asked.._

_"We're doing riddles." Her dad had replied._

_"What's that?" she asked._

_"It's like a puzzle with words."_

_"Oh, I like puzzles, I want to play."_

_She looked as her daddy really thought about if he was going to let her play or not. Then he smiled and she knew she had won._

_"Okay, I have a easy one for you. When is a door not a door?" he smiled._

_"Hey, that's an easy one!" Abby shouted from the couch._

_"Hush. She's only five. We've been helping her with her vocabulary, she'll figure it out, I know she will._

_"It's going to take forever." Charlie sighed dramatically._

_"It'll be worth it when you figure it out. It'll be our code. It's like a secret the two of us share. Us._

She remembered it HAD taken her forever to figure out. Well at least forever for a five year old. It was fall by the time she finally got it, but maybe because she had forgotten she was supposed to be getting it in the first place.

_Charlotte had been out back with her mom all day and she was excited to show her daddy what she had._

_"Daddy look at what I got." She beamed showing her daddy._

_"Did you catch the butterfly?" he asked admiring the butterfly in the jar._

_"Yeah, I'm going to keep it in my room."_

_"No, we need to let him go, he wants to fly free. He needs to be with his family, now that you've seen what a beautiful butterfly he is it's time let him out of the jar."_

That was the day it all clicked for her. She had so many memories of being Billie Anderson, but this was the only memory she had of being Charlotte Jane. She wanted to be Charlotte Jane again, but why was it her dad didn't want her? She knew she was Charlotte. She had to be Charlotte. She left him the note. It had to be the key. She slid back into her bed and waited. Tomorrow she would get answers. She would either get them with her real father by her side, or the Andersons would tell Red John she was setting new rules. She reached under her pillow and was satisfied to find her gun there. Then she closed her eyes to sleep peacefully.

*WTP*

Jane woke with a start. He was having that idiotic dream again. Only this time, he was in a room filled with jars of butterflies. Their wings flapped frantically as they tried to get away. Some were suffocating in the jars because there were no air holes.

Now wide awake, he was pacing back and forth. He shouldn't have let Lisbon leave. But so he had thrown him off of his game, confessing her love for him. How could she do that? Then - he remembered - Billie had slipped something into his pocket. He had been so tired and then distracted by Teresa. Dragging his IV pole, he ran to his jacket. He took out the slip of paper and read it. First it made no sense: **_Whe_****n is a door not a door?**

Then it was like an explosion in his mind. When is a door not a door? When it's ajar! It was like all of those damn butterflies were set free and they were swarming him. Trying to kill him, and all these images were all over the place, images he knew about, images he didn't, and oh god images he didn't want to know about. He was aware of seeing spots briefly, however, he completely lost consciousness before his body dropped to the floor in a lifeless heap.


	7. Scattered Memories

Chapter 6: Scattered Memories

_Patrick Jane was outside that bedroom again. He knew this dream, and he hated it. He had been having it for the past ten years and it was always the same. He would read the heart-stopping note then go inside and find the dead bodies of his wife and daughter. There was no hope for him, he knew what was happening yet kept torturing himself. He knew it wasn't real this was only a dream. But he had finally decided he was going to move on. He told Teresa how he felt and he could tell deep down she felt the same way. It was the start of something new. Something had finally given him a little happiness, but he knew he wasn't allowed to be happy. Because DNA results don't lie, the door was closed on Billie being his daughter. He had decided to open another, with Lisbon as his lover, but apparently that was not allowed either. This dream was a reminder telling him of his real purpose. He was to avenge them. He had to or guilt would consume him._

_In his dream Jane found himself once again opening the door. As so many times before he went inside and there she was, his beautiful Angela. But she was looking right through him, and he could tell she was in agony when she died. If only he had been there and not making a business deal for a show he thought bitterly. After all this carnage, he would never make an episode. "Daddy." A small voice slurred from the bed, followed by a horrible gurgling sound. This had never happened before. This was different. He had never gotten to the bed and found Charlie still alive. He rushed to her side and quickly picking up the sheet from the bed he began to apply pressure. She was going to be okay. He was going to save her._

Jane could feel himself coming back to consciousness. He must have hit the floor pretty hard, because he was aching. A nurse was standing over him, she looked frazzled.

"Mr. Jane, have you taken anything? What happened?" The night nurse asked trying to get him to focus.

He just felt so tired. Maybe rest would be a good thing.

*WTP*

Teresa Lisbon heard her clock going off but that couldn't be right, and when she looked out her window the sun wasn't up yet. Then she realized it wasn't her alarm clock but her phone ringing. She cursed herself for not putting it beside the bed as she got up and began to fish it from her pants pocket on the bedroom floor.

"Lisbon." She answered a little out of breath.

As she listened to the frantic voice on the other end of the phone, Lisbon couldn't believe what she heard. After being told she didn't need to hurry, she was on her way. Lisbon didn't need this right now. Once she had started working more closely with Jane, she knew work would never be simple again.

*WTP*

It was around 3:00 a.m. and Cho was out for a run. He had gotten back into the routine of having a nightly run. So while everyone else was snuggled in their beds, he was in a park near where he lived - running. It's not like it ever really got cold where they lived. Well, it did, but never to the point where a person couldn't go for a run if they chose. So here he was running through the park. He was about to turn and go one more lap around his usual trail when he heard a grunt. Cho decided to check it out. Just because he was off duty didn't mean he wouldn't help someone in need.

*WTP*

Abby had an idea of what the hell she was doing up at this time of night. It was her mother who always put her in this mood. Abby was nervous about coming face-to-face with Patrick, and of course that was when her her mother called and she had gotten even more nervous and worried. So, now they were going to be face-to-face with him after ten years. It hadn't really been that long since they had talked because her mother was in charge of all the Jane finances. Patrick had talked to her so many times on the phone without realizing it that it was ridiculous.

Katy, he thought her fucking name was Katy. Life wasn't fair sometimes, she didn't care if he said it was for her own good. She had come to the conclusion over time, that her brother, Patrick, was one sick bastard, and he didn't know what was good for everyone. This was destroying everyone's lives. Things would be far better, if they didn't follow his rules

**_Flashback_**

_"Are you fucking insane?" Abigail stared at her brother in disbelief._

_"I'm deadly serious, it'll work but only if you help me._

_"Patty I can't do it. No, I won't do it! This is not the way to go about things. The police will find him and he'll get put in jail. That's how these types of things work."_

_"He's a fucking serial killer. I'm trapped, if he finds out, he'll make it happen and I will have failed."_

_"Are you sure about this?" she asked considering what he asked._

_"I'm sure, I just need to stop by the hospital. I need to see her one more time."_

_"Oh Patty." She reached to hug him but he pulled away._

_I can't. If I were to hug you, I'd stop all of this. I can't stop it. It's the only way things will work. While I'm gone, think of what you want to be called. I've always liked Katy."_

_She watched her brother walk away. It killed her that this might be one of the last time she saw him, well at least saw him and he knew who she was._

She punched the bag one more time, and this time it didn't hurt so much. It was ridiculous, he was ridiculous, and she was fed up with following his rules. Starting with that fucking brace! She was really going at it with the bag now, she couldn't wait for tomorrow. She couldn't wait for him to see what he had caused while he supposedly was protecting her.

**_Flashback_**

_"No fucking way!" Abby shouted at her brother._

_"Yes, it's perfect and you're already used to it." He explained._

_"Used to it, I worked my ass off to never have to see that thing again, and you just hand it to me like it's a fucking sweater. How can you do such a thing?" she asked trying not to cry._

_"He won't hurt you if you wear it. Red John wants the kill to be a challenge."_

_"Oh, I get it, a cripple isn't much of a challenge right. I really don't know how to feel about that. At least you didn't say I was also safe 'cause I'm black." She accused._

_She felt truly disgusted when she noticed her brother's sheepish face._

"Son of a bitch!" she shouted as she let her frustrations go.

Cho didn't know how long he had been staring but he just couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was the girl from the hospital. He still hadn't found out how she knew Jane, but that wasn't what was important right now. She was amazing. He stood and watched as she punched a bag she had up in a tree, and how she was like a cat on her feet. The flips and turns and spins. It was almost like he was in one of those martial arts movies. She was amazing, and just when he thought it couldn't get any better she screamed, and a knife came out of nowhere and went flying into a tree right in front of her.

Well that just wasn't going to do, anyone could be in that park. She can't just be tossing weapons around, he thought. But when he approached the spot where she'd been training - there was no other word for what he had seen - she certainly was preparing for something. She was gone, simply seemingly vanished.

He spun around to see where she had ran off to, but before he could even think his feet were knocked from under him and the mocha goddess, which was how he had come to think of her, was straddling his hips and pointing a knife at his throat.

"Tell me Agent Cho, why is you're stalking a young woman like me in the middle of the night?" she asked looking very determined.

*WTP*

Teresa pulled up to a house alive with activity. Cops were all over the place, they even had a K9 unit searching the nearby woods. She was told he had taken off through the woods there. She had seen enough, she had to get inside of the house.

The first thing she noticed after walking inside was the dead body in the center of the room. The body of Tracey Anderson showing many cut marks was on the floor. Before Lisbon even looked she knew there was a smiley face somewhere in the room She hadn't spotted it yet, but she could feel it looking at her.

Then there was Billie, hysterical, but not for any reasons you would think. She was being grilled by the police because they wanted to know where she had gotten the gun she used to shoot Red John with, as he ran from the Anderson home. She said she had come downstairs and there he was carving up her mother. He told her she was next, and this time he'd make sure.

"Make sure? What do you think he meant by that?" Lisbon asked Rigsby as he approached her.

"I'm thinking it might have something to do with this boss! Where's Jane?" he asked he handed her an ID.

At first she didn't think anything about it. It was Dr. Tracey Anderson's driver's license. What was so special about it? Then she saw it right there screaming at her and she knew she had to get to Jane right now. Red John had taken another victim, he had just murdered Dr. Tracey Ruskin Anderson.


	8. Mother Knows Best

A/N: Blame me seeing Tangled too many times in the last three days for the title chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 8: Mother Knows Best

_"This isn't the type of thing we do here ma'am." The orderly informed her._

_"What's your name sweetheart?" Imogene Jane practically purred looking into the young man's eyes._

_"Daniel, Daniel Oliver."_

_"Well Daniel, I know you like to help people, that's why you took this job. You wanted to be a friend of all these people. Now, I assure you, this is the best kind of help you could be giving him."_

_"You want me to paint this smiley face on the wall, and then you want me to leave this in his hand?" he asked in disbelief._

_"Yes and, I assure you, if he could, he would thank you."_

_"They'll put him on suicide watch for sure if this happens, I've watch the news. I know what happened to his family. I won't do it!"_

_"Listen - I need him to break, and I know right now you think what I'm asking you to do is horrible - I get it. But, I'm his mother and, I know best. How much will it take for you to do that, or if you could push HIM to do it?" she asked taking out her checkbook._

Imogene Jane couldn't stop crying. When she thought back to what she had done to her son, she knew he would never forgive her. He was the key player in a lot of it, but there were certain things which he couldn't do. He could only play the role to a certain extent. He needed the final push and she wouldn't have been a good mother, if she hadn't done what he had wanted done.

Now it was early morning and she was just headed out the door to the rehab facility where Patrick was currently living. She was sure by now he had questions. Questions she would have to answer and consequences she was willing to endure. It was going to be a good morning, she was finally getting to see the real Patrick Jane for the first time in a decade. The only thing was, she wished he could have stayed the same.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a knock at the door.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to find me!" she said reluctantly letting him in.

"It took a lot of digging my Dear, you were always good at staying off the radar. So you can imagine my shock when a report came across my desk about an Imogene Jane who was staying at a hotel not far from my association." He told her before taking a seat.

"DO come in and take a seat. Shall I order tea, or should I just bow at your feet my lord and master?" Imogene stated giving him a false curtsy.

"Don't patronize me, Dear, I really don't have the time. Now where is our daughter?" he demanded.

"My daughter is someplace far from you, you have never touched her and you never will."

"You make it seem as if I want to molest the poor child. You were the one out straying, while I loved Abby from the day she came out looking, may I say, more like her mother's best friend than me... but still I loved her every day. I'm not living the life of a Jane anymore - you know that? I tell you it was quite the shock when he and I came face to face again and he didn't recognize me. At first it was thrilling. I could build up a relationship with him, gain his trust, and maybe his affection. Then he could be my boy again and take over for me when I died. That's another reason I'm glad to see you, you see Imogene I'm… "

"Save it. I don't care to know. I just want you to know. Rules are still in place, if you try to tell him, or do anything to him while I'm here. That envelope goes to the DA and all the police stations. Alexander Jane is a wanted man. They'll throw me a parade for bringing in your ass. That fake education and that fake accent, won't be able to help you."

"Then what do you think he'll say about you. A mother who took his mind and memories and twisted them. I'm sure you made me out to be a monster. I probably had him taking money from babies and sick grandmas, or hey, maybe both at the same time. I'm not going to pretend to be a saint my Dear, we both know I'm not. The thing is planted in his mind about me already, but what kind of a mother did he have?"

Imogen quickly looked away, she was good at what she did. That's why she and Alexander worked well together, but he was better. She knew, if he looked her in the eye, he'd know.

"Tsk tsk my Darling, so - what if - he doesn't remember having a mother? Did you die giving birth to him? Or no, I ran you off? You are cold my Dear. Taking his memories and putting him in that place, and watching him have a nervous breakdown. This was not a part of the plan. You were supposed to make him have the memories of a breakdown, not give him one. You and sweet Sophie, oh she and I had a talk and, wow, when she told me everything you had set up I was, well Dear, I didn't know if I was supposed to be terrified or find you and make sweet love to you one last time for being so damn amazing."

"Flattery wil get you nowhere, Alex, I got away once but then I let you flatter me, and we ended up with a daughter."

"Sure we did darling, I am the only father that girl has ever known anyway, but just because you have claim to have a mulatto in your family tree doesn't make me her biological dad."

"See we go back to that, because she's a little brown she can't be yours, but I tell you Alex I never strayed. No matter how I wanted to - I never did. Even when I got away from you, no other man could make me feel the way you do. You're Alexander Jane, and God help me I still love you."

"Honey, I taught you that con, the jig is up, I can't believe you hid our granddaughter. I was right there at her funeral holding our son's hand and crying like a baby and the whole time the box was empty."

"He knew, he put all of this into play. He was lying the whole time, what I did was his own plan. He'll forgive me for going that extra mile. He knows his mother knows best."

"You really are a cold-hearted bitch, where is Abigail? I need to get her away from you. She doesn't need to be around you. The child is in her thirties and she's still around you like a wounded puppy. I'm sure you've done something to her head as well. Your time is running out, do you think he'll forgive you after this?

"Me! Me? Do you think he'll forgive you. You know who Red John is. You've probably seen him this week, but because of who you are now - you protect him. How can you live with yourself, having the power to bring the killer of your granddaughter's mother to justice?

"We've already established the coffin was empty. I don't know how you did it, you are very good - in some ways better - than me."

"Oh, Alex, Patrick will understand. Angela wasn't the best of people but she did her best to make him better. And she almost succeeded. He wasn't going to be you, and that's why I did what I did. He needed the emotional baggage so he could find this monster. I know when he finds him, he'll kill him and I will be so very happy. If I'm lucky, he'll kill you, too, Alex. Then we can all finally be free. Oh, I'm sorry, that's right - you're not Alex anymore. I should call you, Brett Stiles, now. Right?


	9. Altered Reality

_"Can't you be serious?" Abby asked in disbelief._

_"You have been doing this almost as long as I have. It's going to be easy. I'm going to take pills the doctor prescribed, they will help me relax. Then it'll be easier for you to get inside my head." Patrick Jane said soothingly to his sister. Abby needed to calm down in order to do this for him. It was so very important for him and even more so for his Sweet Charlie._

_"But the doctor told us Charlie is going to be alright - I don't think you should leave her at a time like this. You, of all people, know how our father thought of me. I really needed a dad. I really, really needed a dad in my life. She does, too." Abby firmly told her brother... her voice rising at the end of her statement._

_"Oh Abby, Sweet Abby, I have to do this and if all of this goes as planned, Charlotte will never even know I was there. I talked to her aunt, she's going to take her."_

_"Ew, you mean she's going to live with her and her chipmunk. You know Angela hated her sister, you can't possibly do THAT to Charlie."_

_"They can keep her safe, Abby, I can't! Will you do this for me or not?"_

_"Fine! Fine - but you have to be absolutely sure you want to do this because - once it's done - it's done! Also, you need to think of a trigger."_

_"I'm not sure of much right now, but I know I don't just WANT to keep her safe, I HAVE to keep her safe. Red John thinks he got her and he needs to keep on thinking just that! Hiding Charlie is for the best because I'm going to get Red John."_

_"Fine, but Patty, I'm so sorry." Abby said, sounding heart stricken._

_"What?" Jane asked confusion in his eyes._

_"I'm so very sorry."_

_Before he could even think, his sister pulled out a knife and stabbed him with it._

"Abby!" he shouted startling awake. Patrick Jane was gasping, doing his best to catch his breath. It was only a dream, although it had seemed so real.

He took in his surroundings and knew he was still in the hospital. Why was he in the hospital again? Oh right, it was rehab. Looking to his left, he realized he wasn't alone.

"Lisbon, what are you doing here?" Jane asked.

Lisbon took a moment to take In the appearance of her consultant. He looked more disheveled than normal. She really hated to do this to him but this was just not right, he was lying to her.

"Jane, I know you're having a rough time and I don't want to be the person to call you on it - but I thought we were past all of this."

"Past what?"

"The lies, Jane. The lies... Red John took another victim tonight."

"Was it…" He found himself unable to say her name.

"Billie is fine Jane, Dr. Anderson was murdered by Red John."

"The chipmunk." Jane laughed - remembering the realistic dream.

"Not Alvin, Dr. Tracey Anderson was killed last night, Jane. Right in front of her daughter."

She watched his face closely for some kind of reaction. It wasn't at all what she had expected. He closed his eyes and it was almost like he was about to drift back off to sleep.

"Jane?"

"Hmm." He confirmed hearing her without opening his eyes.

"Tracey Anderson is dead, did you not hear me?" Agent Lisbon asked confused.

"Tracey Anderson is dead. You might want to get some sort of protection for her husband as well as the daughter." Jane said in his best Consultant voice.

Lisbon couldn't believe it, it almost looked as if he were going to lie down on the floor and just go to sleep! This was too strange to ignore! When Lisbon first got to Jane's room, the nurse told her when coming on duty, she had found him on the floor, seemingly passed out. At first the nurse was afraid he had taken something, but after conducting some tests staff concluded it was some sort of panic or night terror. He was still somewhat disoriented and just plain being weird which was saying something considering he was Patrick Jane.

"Jane! I just told you your wife's sister was butchered by Red John and now you're going to take a nap?" She asked in disbelief.

"My wife's what?" he asked jumping up.

WTTP*

"I can't believe this. You handcuffed me and brought me in? You do realize you should be taking this time to arrest - oh, I don't know - a real criminal? " Abby asked sarcastically.

"You were in a public park with concealed weapons, you used said weapons and attacked a police officer." Cho deadpanned as usual.

"Are you always like this?" she asked.

"Like what?"

"So robotic. You're so wound up, when was the last time you had a nice bowel movement." She asked with a smile.

"Ma'am, do you not understand what's going on here?"

"Oh I understand. A nice cop like yourself, finds a young woman like me attractive. I would guess you are shy and aren't quite sure how to approach me, so you use the fake arrest as a ruse to ask me out. Sure, Agent Cho, I would love to go out with you." She smiled.

"How do you know Patrick Jane?" he asked.

"What?" she practically shrieked.

Cho really did like this woman. But he was a detective and there was something - something about her he couldn't quite put his finger on. And, thinking of fingers, he really wanted to run his fingers through her silky hair, it was beautiful, and it seemed to glow. Unexpectedly, every time he tried to concentrate on her face, it was jarring the way her eyes danced at him. They were familiar eyes, eyes that he was positive were the eyes of a Jane.

"Who are you to Jane? What do you want with him? Why is it... every time I turn around lately... there you are? More importantly, why do you wear this? You have no need for it whatsoever, why are you dragging your leg around like it is dead weight?" he asked tossing her brace on the counter.

Abby smiled seriously as she looked between Cho and the brace. This is not how it was supposed to happen, her mother was going to kill her.

*WTTP*

Lisbon knew it was a mistake when Jane leapt from the hospital bed. She knew it was a mistake as he got dressed, and she definitely knew it was probably her mistake for telling him - when he threw up on the lawn. Now, Patrick Jane was stalking up the steps to the home of Alvin and the Late Dr. Tracey Anderson. He had been absolutely pumping her for information for the past half hour. It was obvious to Lisbon, Jane knew nothing about Tracey Anderson being Angela's sister. That wasn't the jarring part though, Jane admitted Angela had a sister, but every time he tried to recall what she looked like all he saw was butterflies. She was worried. She was more than worried.

"How do you know me?" he asked erratically as he stalked over to Alvin Anderson.

Alvin was scared. He was more than scared. He hadn't signed on for this, he had only done what his wife had asked and in the end it had cost her life. Was he safe? Was Billie safe? It had been too many years for him not to think of her as his daughter, HE was her father not the madman standing wild-eyed in front of him.

"You need to leave now. I've finally gotten Billie to go to sleep. Seeing you now will only confuse things. The police didn't take her, they said she could turn herself in tomorrow."

"Turn herself in?" Jane looked back at Lisbon.

"She had an unregistered gun, Jane, and she fired it."

"She shot him?" he asked.

She couldn't miss the pride in his voice. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew now that Billie really was Charlotte Jane. She had to be - there were way too many coincidences.

"I know Tracey Anderson was in psychiatric care. What did she do to me?" Jane said accusingly to Alvin.

"She did everything that you wanted of her. I told her it was stupid. I told her what her father said about you was true. You Janes are all poison and you got Angela butchered because you couldn't keep your mouth shut on TV. The things Red John did to poor Charlotte. When she came... Then, Alvin stopped, realizing what he was about to say.

"When she what? When she came to live with you? That's what you were going to say right? That's my daughter. Where is she? Is she up there?" Jane took off up the stairs, but Alvin was faster. He was blocking the door.

"You have no right Jane, you gave up that right long ago."

"I did no such thing, why did I do that?"

"To keep her safe, you said she would be safe here. You had to forget, she had to as well."

"What do you mean forget, I would never. I would never take her memories. It's not safe to hypnotize a child. I would never do that - never!"

"I did it, Patty." An unknown and yet, at the same time, familiar voice announced from the door.

Teresa Lisbon looked to the door and a woman was standing there. A woman in her late fifties, but she was still beautiful. Her skin was well tanned, and she had brownish blonde curls that seemed to fall in the right place. She was dressed in a tasteful white pant suit and reeked of money and class. She walked into the place like she owned it. Wayne Rigsby was right behind her trying to get her to leave the scene. Jane was... Jane was staring.

Patrick Jane was in a trance. He knew her, but how. His mind kept telling him it was his publicist. She handled all of his cases and his money but there was something else familiar about her. Something right at the surface trying to break free. She took her left hand and pulled some hair out of her face and that's when he saw it. The small cut above her eye, he had put that there. Another cage had broken and another butterfly had been set free from its cage.

"Hello, Patty." She smiled when he came face to face with her.

"You did it - didn't you, you hypnotized me?" he stated more than asked.

"It was what you wanted, Patty. You said it was the only way you could catch him"

"He killed Trace tonight, I know I had lunch with her when we were on the circuit, I don't remember any of that. I don't know what's real and what's not anymore. I didn't ask for anything like that." Jane said with a bewildered look on his face.

"Honey, I had to take some steps that were necessary, because there's only so much a person can make you believe, and I... I know... you suffered... but it was for the greater good. Honey I love you."

She went in to hug him and he pulled away.

"Patty?"

"Don't." he walked away.

"Patty, please, you have to understand! I am sorry." She shouted to a rapidly disappearing Jane.


	10. As the Jar Breaks

As the Jar Breaks

It was her. Her name was, Kate. Since the murder of his wife and daughter, her name had been Kate. When she came and told him of his equities and other financial dealings, her name was Kate. That wasn't the case though. Things were coming back to him, things he didn't want to remember, but which he needed to remember! There was a bigger picture.

_His mind was cloudy. He didn't remember getting dressed but he was sitting on the edge of his bed in a nice suit. Well at least the pants. He hadn't put on any socks yet. There was something... something he was supposed to be doing, but this wasn't it._

_"Okay Patty, now if you need to lean on me, then you do that, okay. I'm here for you." _

_"Why does he look like that?" Abigail asked her mother._

_Imogene Jane took in her son's demeanor and she had to give herself a pat on the back. He was broken. Truly broken. She had never realized how much he loved Angela until this very moment. They were his entire world and that monster had taken Angela - but she had taken Charlie. Had she done the right thing?_

_"I'm supposed to be at the school. Charlotte has practice today, and I was going to see her in her pretty princess dress. She's my pretty princess." He said to no one in particular._

_"I can't do this!" Abby all but ran from the room._

_"Get your ass back in there." Imogene told her daughter when she cornered her._

_"How can you do something like this mother, Patty's broken and it's not what we all agreed upon. I didn't do that. That is wrong, it's something on the level of what dad would do. You swore you'd never be like dad. He had no conscious... no feelings for anyone or anything - that's why we left." She sobbed._

_Imogene loved her daughter but sometimes she could be so naïve and it could be her downfall some day._

_"After today we go our separate ways from Patrick. Yes, I know I had you tell him to remember me and he will, but not as his mother, but you, you can't have any more contact with him."_

_"What?" she asked confused._

_"The riddle. It's clever and it's cute and it may keep his memories at bay for a while, but your brother is clever. I needed a little more insurance to keep him in line. You can't see him anymore after today."_

_"No way! It's Patty, you can't expect me not to see Patty! He's my brother, I love him and can't believe you would do such a thing. You're such a..." They both turned as Patrick Jane spoke._

_"Mom, I don't feel too well." Then he collapsed into a heap on the floor._

Everything was coming back in waves. She was there, Imogene Jane was there. And, she was his mother! The woman he knew as Kate was really his mother! Every time he tried to think back to his mother this Imogene was not the one he saw. He was seeing a lovely woman with blonde hair like him, and it was curly like him. He looked a lot like her in his memories. All of the memories of the two of them were generic though and then she died. She died giving him a sister who died as well and this was why he didn't have a sister because she had died too. Which was why he had spent his life with that bastard of a man. What if she had lied about his father, too? He had to get out of there and clear his mind. He had to get someplace where he could think.

*WTTP*

Abby watched intently while Patty had a conversation with a woman she was sure was Teresa Lisbon. Something had just happened and it didn't seem to be good. Abby clearly heard the name of Angela's sister, and she feared Red John had gotten to her. She acted uninterested as she tried to decipher whether or not Charlotte was okay. Charlie seemed to be, but then she heard Jane was on his way to the scene of the crime and that just could not happen. Cho hung up and now was her chance.

"Listen," Abby said to Cho. "it looks like something really big is going on here and you don't need me, so could you please let me go. I wasn't hurting anyone."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again. You had hidden weapons in a public park. You could've hurt someone." Cho said, with one of his sterner looks.

"I'm being very honest with you because you seem like the kind of person who appreciates the truth. Please... listen. If you have any kind of feelings for Patrick Jane. I mean ANY kind of feelings, whether it's admiration or brothers-in-arms, if you have any feelings for him, you HAVE to help me get out of here. He cannot see me."

"Okay - you got my interest, what would happen if he saw you?"

"He'd break. I'm sure you've seen him on the edge of an abyss before, but I'm not talking about what has happened before, if he sees me right now, he might not be able to come back from where he ends up."

Cho didn't know what to make of this woman, but he knew fear. It was an emotion she hadn't expressed in the small time he had come to know her. But he felt as though he'd known her a lifetime and if she was afraid, he couldn't help but feel the fear creep into his soul as well.

*WTTP*

Everything was a bit fuzzy. Although she didn't understand why she had believed this. Ever since she met Ashlyn, she knew that she knew her. She had known Ash since they were little kids but she also knew she herself was Charlotte Jane. Not Billie, but Charlotte Jane. There was just tons of things clicking into place now. How she didn't look like Alvin, and how all the pictures of her seemed a bit off. Now she knew they had to have been digitally altered. Her mom was dead. That monster had broken in and stabbed her mother to death, or should she say aunt. It was the second time he had taken away someone she loved. The difference was this time around, she shot him. She hadn't killed him but he would think twice again before crossing her path.

She needed to get back to the house - she had left Alvin at the house all by himself. He was unprotected and he had just lost wife. What if that monster had gotten back to the house and decided to take him out. She couldn't lose him, too, not after losing everyone else. She jumped up but the sight in front of her stopped her in her tracks.

"I got your note." Patrick Jane said softly staring at Billie.

"When is a door not a door?" Billie asked, trying... but failing, to stop the tremble in her voice.

"When it's a jar." He shouted as he ran toward her eager to close the distance between them.

"I've missed you so much daddy!" she shouted hugging him tight.

"I've missed you so much, I'm never letting go again. Never."

He had his Charlotte back and he wasn't letting go ever again. The moment his arms had wrapped around her, he felt strange. This was it. He felt the very last jar break. The glass - in shards around them both - as the beautiful butterfly was freed. Then, as from a great distance, he heard his Charlotte scream as he lost consciousness. The butterfly flew away unnoticed in the cha


	11. When Allies Become Enemies

When Allies Become Enemies

Kimball Cho couldn't believe what he was doing. He wasn't the kind of agent who did things based on his emotions. One thing he disliked about Rigsby and Van Pelt, most of the time they ended up running with their hearts, instead of going by protocol, which in the end tended to bite them in the ass. When it came to not showing any emotions at work, he was very good, he didn't have any. Cho made sure he barely smiled. Someone had to get really close to him to know what he was thinking or feeling. Everyone knew it, that's why even though he would never tell any of the members of his team out loud he cared for them dearly and would do anything for them. This was the reason he was leading a woman he barely knew, and shouldn't trust, into an interrogation room where he was going to hear her out. Maybe she would tell him her link to Patrick Jane because there was one and he needed to know what it could be.

"Let's say I believe you. Just why is it so important for him not to see you?" Cho asked her.

"Oh Kimball, I've done something horrible to Patrick. I took away the one thing I think he may have needed this whole time."

Abby didn't know much about Kimball Cho, but she knew there was something very fair and decent about him... and, she had been holding this all in for far too long. She could not help herself and just let her whirling emotions take over. Without thinking - Abby threw herself into Kimbell's arms! They felt so safe and warm, and he felt so very strong. She would think about all this later but now she sobbed uncontrollably for both herself and Patrick. Right now she just needed to be held.

*WTTP*

Teresa Lisbon sat looking at Patrick's mother. Apparently, the woman before her really was Patrick's mother. His mother - although he had told her his mother was dead. He had said his mother was dead and Teresa was sure he believed it. That was all he told her, his mother was dead. Yet here she sat, Imogene Jane. Alive and well. Wow! Just wow... Teresa needed to hear just how this could be.

"I can only imagine what you think of me." Imogene said as they sat across from each other in Jane's rehab suite.

"Words can't express what I'm thinking about you right now, Ms. Jane. Patrick has been lost and so alone for such a long time now. I have done my best to keep him afloat but it has never been enough. He needed something more. He needed you, but most of all he needed Charlotte. I mean, let's just stop pretending right now - that girl is Charlotte. She is Charlotte Jane, and she seems to be as lost as he is."

"Wow, my son really has pulled a number on you hasn't he? I mean, I thought he was out of this con game but he really has conned you. Teresa Lisbon, I think you are a little in love with my son. Isn't that true?" Imogene asked with a smirk.

"It's Agent Lisbon and it's none of your business. Tell me, as a mother, how can you sit here so calmly? I put out an APB on him. We have no idea where he is, or what could be going through his head right now. Don't you even care a small amount for your son?"

"You think it wasn't killing me not to be with him? He would call me every once in awhile to ask about his money. The things he has set in place in case he has to leave suddenly, or when he finally catches that bastard. He has set up trusts and other things. He wants to make sure that you and your team are taken care of because he loves you all very much. This team is the only family he believes he has."

"But you do see that's not the truth, Imogene. You've been here the whole time. His wife's family has been here as well. You didn't think maybe I needed to know these things. A woman is dead, Red John has taken another life. He tried to take your granddaughter's life tonight and it seems to me you could care less."

"All of this was Patrick's idea. You look at me and you judge me but all of this was entirely his brainchild. I didn't want to leave him, you honestly think that of me? He wanted it this way, he said Red John wanted to break him and so he had to be broken. He said Red John was too smart to fall for any pretense on his part. Patrick knew Red John would keep coming back if he thought that he hadn't succeeded with killing Charlotte. He would keep coming back until he did succeed and Patrick was desperate to keep her safe. That's what I was doing, I was keeping them both as safe as I could by doing exactly what my son asked of me. Can't you understand that?" she practically pleaded.

Now Teresa didn't know if she should be angry or not. She knew Jane and she knew what he was capable of, and all of these things Imogene was telling her were right up his alley. But - to pull off something like this. All of these lies, she didn't know who or what to believe. With all of these new revelations there was one more question she just had to ask.

"I've decided that I will feel about this... however Jane feels about it. You being alive is a real shock, so since we are already being shocked, I guess I should ask you one more question. Patrick's dad, where is he?"

Imogene Jane didn't think Teresa had noticed but even if 'Teresa' didn't, Agent Lisbon did, with just the mention of Patrick's dad, his mother's whole demeanor changed. Yes, it seems Agent Teresa Lisbon had definitely hit the nail squarely on the head with that question.

*WTTP*

Bret Stiles sat quietly in his office waiting. He knew Red John was coming, he had already gotten word of what had happened, and so, he knew with certainty he'd be coming. Stiles had to admit that in the beginning when he helped him it was for his son. Patrick was chasing shadows and barking up the wrong trees. If only Patrick would remember he truly wasn't the enemy, things would be okay but until that moment happened he would have to keep tabs on the monster himself. He had done it though, the monster had done it again. Red John had taken it on himself to go after her again, and well this time things were different. Stiles had gotten the printout from his doctor and now he knew he didn't have much time left anyway. Things were about to end.

"Bret, I... I'm glad you're, you're here." He stammered as he stumbled coming in.

"You've had a very busy night." Bret Stiles returned more calmly than he felt.

"I can't believe that bitch shot me. First I'm shocked to find out that she's still alive and then when I try to get her she shoots me. That bitch! I need you to help me get out of town."

"No. I think our arrangement will be coming to an end today." Bret Stiles said very matter-of-factly, indeed.

"Why is that?" Red John asked confused.

"Because today you took it on yourself to try and take my granddaughter from me again, and I think it's time the world is rid of filth like you."

Before he even had time to react Bret Stiles had taken out a gun and pulled the trigger.


End file.
